Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from Radiotopia.

My name is Jody Avergan.

This day, December 1878, President Rutherford B Hayes installs the first telephone in the White House.

This was just 14 months after Alexander Graham Bell had transmitted the first telephone call and Bell himself

installed the line in the White House, made my favorite little tidbit from this whole story.

The phone number for the White House line was, folks, grab a pencil and write this down so you don't forget it.

The phone number for the White House was 1.

That was the telephone number.

If you want to get out of the White House, just hit one.

That was a real problem after 10 more numbers got handed out.

So let's talk about Hayes and Bell and the first telephone line at the White House here, as always,

Nicole Hammer of Vanderbilt and Kelly Carter Jackson of Wausley.

Hello there. Hello Jody. Hey there. My question to you is, is Rutherford B Hayes the most

forgotten president? If you ask people to name the

presidents, do you think he's the one who most gets not remembered?

The one reason that I think he might be more remembered than like Chester Arthur is because he's the big

end of reconstruction guy, kind of a coin toss as to whether he becomes president or not, but I mean, with a name like Rutherford B. Hayes, you're not going to, it doesn't roll off the tongue.

He's like top 20.

Top 20, remember or top 20.

Top 20 remembered or top 20 forgotten.

I would say, well for me because I study.

Well, yeah, you don't know.

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